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Nina Dølvic Brochman: We grew up believing

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that the hymen is the proof of virginity.

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But it turns out,

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we were wrong.

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What we discovered

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is that the popular story
we're told about female virginity

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is based on two anatomical myths.

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The truth has been known
in medical communities for over 100 years,

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yet somehow these two myths
continue to make life difficult

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for women around the world.

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Ellen Støkken Dahl:
The first myth is about blood.

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It tells us that the hymen breaks

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and bleeds the first time
a woman has vaginal sex.

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In other words,

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if there is no blood
on the sheets afterwards,

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then the woman was simply not a virgin.

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The second myth is a logical
consequence of the first.

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Since the hymen is thought
to break and bleed,

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people also believe
that it actually disappears,

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or is in some way radically altered
during a woman's first intercourse.

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If that were true,

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one would easily be able to determine
if a woman is a virgin or not

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by examining her genitals --

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by doing a virginity check.

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NDB: So that's our two myths:

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virgins bleed,

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and hymens are lost forever.

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Now, this may sound
like a minor issue to you.

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Why should you care

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about an obscure little skin fold
on the female body?

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But the truth is,

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this is about so much more
than an anatomical misunderstanding.

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The myths about the hymen
have lived on for centuries

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because they have cultural significance.

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They have been used as a powerful tool

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in the effort to control
women's sexuality

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in about every culture,
religion and historical decade.

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Women are still mistrusted,

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shamed,

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harmed,

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and in the worst cases,

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subjected to honor killings

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if they don't bleed
on their wedding night.

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Other women are forced
through degrading virginity checks

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simply to obtain a job,

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to save their reputation,

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or to get married.

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ESD: Like in Indonesia,

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where women are systematically
examined to enter military service.

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After the Egyptian uprisings in 2011,

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a group of female protesters
were forced to undergo virginity checks

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by their military.

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In Oslo, doctors are examining
the hymens of young girls

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to reassure parents
that their children are not ruined.

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And sadly, the list goes on.

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Women are so afraid not to live up to
the myths about the hymen

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that they choose to use
different virginity quick fixes

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to assure a bleeding.

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That could be plastic surgery,

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known as revirgination.

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It could be vials of blood
poured on the sheets after sex,

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or fake hymens bought online,

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complete with theater blood

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and a promise to "kiss
your deep, dark secret goodbye."

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NDB: By telling girls that no deed
can be kept secret,

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that their bodies will
reveal them no matter what,

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we have endowed them with fear.

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Girls are afraid of ruining themselves,

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either through sport,

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play,

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tampon use,

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or a sexual activity.

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We have curtailed their opportunities
and their freedoms.

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It's time we put an end
to the virginity fraud.

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It's time we break the myths
about the hymen,

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once and for all.

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ESD: We are medical students,

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sexual health workers

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and the authors
of "The Wonder Down Under."

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(Laughter)

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That's a popular science book
about the female genitals.

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And in our experience,

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people seem to believe

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that the hymen is some kind of a seal
covering the vaginal opening.

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In Norwegian,

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it is even called, "the virgin membrane."

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And with this,

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we picture something fragile,

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something easily destructible,

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something you can rip through,

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perhaps like a sheet of plastic wrapping.

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You may have wondered why
we brought a Hula Hoop onstage today.

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We'll show you.

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(Laughter)

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(Plastic rips)

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Now, it is very hard to hide

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that something has happened
to this hoop, right?

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It is different before
and after I punched it.

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The seal is broken,

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and unless we change the plastic,

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it won't get back to its intact state.

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So if we wanted to do a virginity check
on this hoop right here,

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right now,

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that would be very easy.

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It's easy to say that this hoop
is not a virgin anymore.

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(Laughter)

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NDB: But the hymen
is nothing like a piece of plastic

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you can wrap around your food,

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or a seal.

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In fact ...

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it's more like this.

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A scrunchie, or a rubber band.

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The hymen is a rim of tissue
at the outer opening of the vagina.

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And usually, it has a doughnut
or a half-moon shape

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with a large, central hole.

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But this varies a lot,

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and sometimes hymens can have fringes,

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it can have several holes,

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or it can consist of lobes.

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In other words,

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hymens naturally vary a lot in looks,

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and that is what makes it so hard
to do a virginity check.

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ESD: Now that we know a bit more
about the hymen's anatomy,

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it's time to get back to our two myths:

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virgins bleed,

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hymens are lost forever.

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But the hymen doesn't
have to break at all.

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The hymen is like a scrunchie
in function as well as in looks.

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And you can stretch a scrunchie, right?

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(Laughter)

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You can stretch a hymen, too.

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In fact, it's very elastic.

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And for a lot of women,

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the hymen will be elastic enough
to handle a vaginal intercourse

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without sustaining any damage.

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For other women,

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the hymen may tear a bit
to make room for the penis,

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but that won't make it disappear.

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But it may look a bit
different from before.

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NDB: So where does that leave us
with our two myths?

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Well, first of all,

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if you have an elastic hymen,

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you will simply never bleed from sex.

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It doesn't matter
if you're a virgin or not.

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It's an anatomical impossibility.

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And that is the case for half of you --

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except for the men amongst you, of course.

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(Laughter)

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So in other words,

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some virgins bleed,

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but some simply don't.

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And that's our first myth shattered.

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It naturally follows that you can't
examine the hymens

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to check for a virginity status.

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This was noted over 100 years ago in 1906

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by the Norwegian doctor,

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Marie Jeancet.

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She examined a middle-aged sex worker,

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and concluded that her genitalia
were reminiscent of a teenage virgin.

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But that makes sense, right?

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Because if her hymen
was never damaged during sex,

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then what were we expecting to see?

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ESD: Since hymens come
in every shape and form,

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it difficult to know

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if a dent or a fold in it is there
because of previous damage,

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or if it's just a normal
anatomical variant.

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The absurdity of virgin testing

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is illustrated in a study done
on 36 pregnant teenagers.

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When doctors examined their hymens,

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they could only find
clear signs of penetration

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in two out of the 36 girls.

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So unless you believe
in 34 cases of virgin births --

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(Laughter)

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we must all agree

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that also our second myth
has taken a vital blow.

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You simply cannot look a woman
between her legs

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and read her sexual story.

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NDB: Like most myths,

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the myths about the hymen are untrue.

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There is no virgin seal

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that magically disappears after sex,

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and half of virgins can easily
have sex without bleeding.

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We wish we could say
that by removing these myths,

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everything would be OK --

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that shame, harm and honor killings
would all just disappear,

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but of course it's not that simple.

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Sexual oppression of women
comes from something much deeper

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than a simple, anatomical
misunderstanding

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about the properties of the hymen.

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It's a question of cultural and religious
control of women's sexuality,

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and that is much harder to change.

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But we must try.

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ESD: As medical professionals,

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this is our contribution.

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We want every girl, parent
and [incoming] husband

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to know what the hymen is

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and how it works.

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We want them to know

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that the hymen can't be used
as proof of virginity.

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And that way,

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we can remove one
of the most powerful tools

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used to control young women today.

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After telling you this,

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you may wonder what the alternative is,

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for if we cannot use the hymen
as a proof of virginity for women,

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then what should we use?

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We opt for using nothing.

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(Cheering)

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If you --

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(Applause)

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If you really want to know
if a woman is a virgin or not,

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ask her.

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(Laughter)

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But how she answers
that question is her choice.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)